Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a roller system and more specifically it relates to a garage door roller system for preventing damage to a vehicle or garage door due to obstructions when the door is opening or closing.
Description of the Related Art
Any discussion of the related art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such related art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
Garage doors are in use throughout the world. Very often, garage doors are operated either from within the vehicle itself or from a separate controller, such as mounted to a wall. In either case, it is very common for one to inadvertently open or close a garage door when there is some sort of obstruction which will block it from fully opening or closing. To prevent injury, most garage doors sense torque levels and will reverse the garage door from opening or closing when a certain level of torque is detected. However, at the point when torque is detected, the garage door will often have already contacted an obstruction and, in many cases, either damages the obstruction or the garage door itself. Many garage doors include a steel arm which connects a carriage of the opener with the garage door itself. Very often, this steel arm extends downwardly and has a lower overhead clearance than any other part of the garage door. In situations in which the steel arm contacts another object, such as a hatch of a vehicle, serious damage can be done. Vehicles often have a high profile, particularly if they have a rear hatch lift gate that when open, exceeds the clearance between the opener arm and the vehicle hatch/lift gate, resulting in damage if contact is made.
It is very common to accidentally leave a hatch or lift gate of a vehicle open, such as when emptying groceries, and then forget to close the hatch or lift gate before activating the garage door. In these cases, the steel arm of the garage door will have already damaged the vehicle, such as by leaving a scratch, before a higher torque is detected and the garage door reversed. In fact, the reversal of the garage door can actually cause even more damage to the vehicle since the steel arm will contact the vehicle again on the way back up or down.
Because of the inherent problems with the related art, there is a need for a new and improved garage door roller system for preventing damage due to obstructions when the door is opening or closing.